Also a well-known producer in the game world, Shinji Mikami and Hideo Kojima have their own representative series, such as the "Metal Gear Solid" (later known as MGS) and "Resident Evil" series, even though they have left the original company. However, compared to mgS's proper planning and good ending (at most only a slight regret), the transformation and personnel changes along the way of the Resident Evil series are really confusing, and this time we will talk about the follow-up direction of these two classic game series, why the gap is so obvious.
The original sin of personnel change
Of course, the direction of these two series is completely different from the situation, and the biggest factor is the impact of personnel changes. Hideo Kojima stumbled from MGS4 to "Phantom Pain" and tried to fight against the mainstream atmosphere of the market, although "Phantom Pain" does have the regrets of the second chapter and a lot of lace news, but at least Kojima has survived the last wave, even after experiencing ups and downs, he still launched "Phantom Pain", making up a major piece of the puzzle of the BIG BOSS storyline, making up the story of "And the Parallel" have a follow-up, and also let players know how to connect to MG1, 2 and MGS (BIG). BOSS and MILLER). In addition, MGS4 also has controversies such as cutscene length, development costs and finished picture performance, but whether it is a series of characters such as Solid Snake, Raiden, BIG BOSS, Bobcat or BIG MAMA, etc. have appropriate length and explanation, it has to be said that it is Hideo Kojima who strives to persevere to the last moment, and this is also the result of long-term leading planning.
In contrast, Resident Evil is a bit of a fate, with Hideki Kamiya and others supervising from the second generation onwards, resulting in a variety of styles. For example, the second generation encourages the fight to be more action-oriented to the third generation, Veronica returns to the survival exploration style of the similar generation, to the fierce innovation of the comprehensive makeover of "Resident Evil 4", and the new era of TPS that began with Resident Evil 5, not only the game style gameplay is changeable, but the plot worldview is difficult to describe. From the early Umbrera, virus zombie to parasite, triptych and BSAA, the chaotic six or seven generations, the new Ambrera and mold, plus the related derivatives of the Apocalypse series and CG movies, all kinds of viruses and biochemical weapons have been innovated, Capcom's approach has obviously turned the worldview plot into a tool to serve the current new work.
In addition to the continuation of seven generations of mold, coupled with the ability of gifts to metamorphose into various bizarre, in order to make the worldview relevant, Miranda had to be related to Spencer. Compared with the super-powered characters such as the psychological mantis in the MGS1 generation, which also continues until the completion of "Phantom Pain", while the overall worldview, chronology and proper nouns are highly continued and planned, the chaotic changes and sequels of the "Resident Evil" series not only cannot make the worldview highly integrated to a higher level, but also often make people confused after every one or two new works. Although the business direction of different companies will be different according to the decision-making and situation of the year, the frequent changes of personnel taken by Capcom undoubtedly make it difficult for the "Resident Evil" series to continue and refine in the world view and plot direction, and it is reduced to digging the east wall and supplementing the west wall step by step.
Proper planning VS clutter
In recent years, due to the erosion of fast food culture, many players have scorned the plot of long-form games, and Hideo Kojima's own aesthetic insistence on cinematic performances is not something that everyone can appreciate, but the consistency brought about by Kojima's long-term leading planning for the MGS series makes people feel deeply about the final chapter MGS4. For example, the duel between the liquid bobcat and the solid snake, various classic music and past replays, such as the emotional return to the shadow of Moses, and the blood of the METAL GEAR showdown again, and even the final salute of BIG BOSS at the tomb, etc. All the plots remind people of MGS3, even the criticized half-finished "Phantom Pain", there are a lot of MGS3 and "Paralleler" Easter eggs and feelings.
And these are not easy to see in "Resident Evil", capcom atmosphere coupled with frequent personnel changes, Mikami Shinji gambled on NGC failed miserably, and then to the fourth development department and clover finally ran away and other developments, so we can hardly see a complete and long-term plan, are taking one step at a time and many people change to take over the situation. For example, the first generation of the unexpected sale, the second generation to find a playwright to expand the world view, "Veronica" to find Sega cooperation burst out of ASHFORD and T-VERONICA virus, the fourth generation directly began to give death umbrellas to the new situation of parasites, the fifth generation of Takeuchi Jun in order to make the plot play collocation on the BSAA by the way to set up a triptych when Umbrera followed.
Six generations gave birth to a C virus and Simmons PLUMY, inexplicably gave WESKER a son and never saw him again after six generations, came a ridiculous fake Ida King and the new Umbrera, so much trouble to create a new term and organization, just to give six generations of world-class popcorn script a one-time service, seven generations in exchange for a more mysterious Chris and blue umbrella. Such frequent changes and eating books not only make people confused, but also do not feel the paving and charm that should be in the current work, which will only make people feel short-sighted and short-sighted.
If "The Chronicles of Umbrera" still has a beginning and a turn and a close, the triptych and the new Umbrera are definitely the most inexplicable, not only the number of appearances is not reduced to a one-time and background Easter egg nature, but also can not see its necessity, especially in the end of the seventh generation to run out of a blue umbrella is extremely embarrassing. Seven generations of DLC can be seen that the official also wants to bury the stem to make the worldview connected, but in the eighth generation, it does not mention anything, only that Miranda and Spencer are related, and even reshape Chris twice. It can be said that the biochemical series has lost its direction and long-term support since the departure of the fourth generation and Shinji Mikami, focusing on what kind of story play the team wants to do a one-time match, not only the story is bland and has no added points to the world view, but also makes people feel short-sighted.
Therefore, when shinji Mikami still has the dominance of the fourth generation, the wesker continues to lay out hints that people are looking forward to, but in the fifth generation, they are directly killed, because the takeuchi era is coming, and the sixth generation is replaced by Hirabayashi Yoshiaki and others to test the water temperature to make a family, WESKER son and the new Ambrera, but it is only a one-time no-wash chopsticks that serve the needs of the current plot play, not to mention the trend after the review of the seven generations of gameplay routes, which can only be reluctantly used to connect the worldview, which makes people sigh. So we can't see Chris's "Veronica" after the bloody counterattack on Europe Ambrera to give players a deep memory experience, can only see the slightest sense of annihilation in the laser gun game many years later, see the very strange Colonel Sergei and the tyrant, even if it is to the player.
So we see that the fourth generation began to announce the death penalty to the umbrella, slapped the ending of "Veronica", but because of personnel factors, the situation changed suddenly, the fifth generation changed hands and hurriedly launched BSAA/Triptych, playing the most resourceful and unpredictable villain WESKER, but the triptych is like a bucket that can't be supported, and finally only a little new shot and hint in the follow-up CG movie. Six generations of simmons plume and C virus, no fuss about the one-off new Ambrera that was lost when they ran out, Chris and Blue Umbrella who were only connected to the worldview under the seventh generation makeover, not to mention the BSAA that was almost forgotten by the eighth generation, but tried to hang the appetite of players, everything was so disorganized and staggering.
Comparing the well-organized solid snake chapter and the BIG BOSS article and the meticulous chronology and world view in MGS, the continuation and association from MGS3 to MGS4 to "Phantom Pain" are touching, and then look at the ridiculous one-time plot trend like "Resident Evil 5", or the embarrassment of six, seven or eight generations of each telling books but wanting to be together, everywhere is purely for the cutscene effect, the plot bridge section that is wanted at the moment and designed at one time, so why "Resident Evil 5" can not have MGS4, "Phantom Pain" That kind of Easter egg feeling and plot consistency, it is also very clear.
The early Chronicles of Umbrera in Resident Evil are some of the few works that are somewhat consistent and emotional, such as the fact that we can see dr. Marcus assassinated because of internal struggles, so we decide to take revenge on Umbrera and lead to the leakage of the virus, how william and WESKER, a young researcher, meet and conspire, or the various actions of King Ida in Raccoon City on the surface, and even the relevance of the actions of the second and third generations of protagonists, and how to seek justice from Ambrera, etc. It all makes people feel that this world view is highly consistent with the direction of the plot. It is precisely because of this that there will be feelings, such as feeling that WEERKER planned everything in the Western-style museum incident, William from having a great future to finally killing himself, these are the five generations began a large number of one-time services, digging the east wall to make up for the frequent changes of the west wall can not see.
Damage caused by the various transformations of Resident Evil 5
Admittedly, Takeuchi's takeover is not entirely a bad thing, for example, in the end, with the fun of double cooperation or the increase in physical pleasure and sales, the five generations have undoubtedly achieved great success. But at the same time, it cannot be denied that Takeuchi Ishu is eager to get out of his own style but can not continue to take the helm, resulting in WESKER being arbitrarily taken away, so it needs a new handle but can not be born, the triptych not only became wesker's private army at the beginning of the fifth generation, but also became a historical term after the fifth generation, leaving only a hint in the movie.
At the same time, the BSAA, whether it is the next six generations or CG movies, only gives people a kind of organization set up for the war plot that is needed in the moment, and it does not feel like STARS or UBCS at all. Takeuchi's heavy pen on the plot of the five generations, including the death of WESKER and the creation of the triptych and BSAA, not only had an impact on the subsequent development of the series, but also had almost no meaning and paving for the worldview. The gameplay is not up and down, but also let the next six generations completely become four different wonderful TPS, thus creating a return to the basics of the seven generations. From these aspects, taking over "Resident Evil" was indeed an incomparable burden, and Takeuchi could not be regarded as a complete mess, but it always made people sigh whether all this could be better developed?
epilogue
Seeing this, I'm sure players will realize the importance of a consistent and long-term plan for the series. Although Hideo Kojima has other aspects to explore, it is his long-term leadership of the worldview and timeline arrangements that allow players to feel everywhere in works such as MGS4, Phantom Pain or Parallelizer, and are more willing to delve into and invest in the worldview he has created. Due to the different operating directions and situations of the "Resident Evil" series, there has not been a relatively long-term plan since "Veronica", and the four generations seem to have shinji Mikami and Hiroyuki Kobayashi seem to have a new situation of laying out ideas, but due to the departure of Mikami and the dominance of Takeuchi Jun, "Resident Evil" has entered an era of more fragmented narratives and lack of long-term planning before and after the one-time plot service from the fifth generation.
If there is no grasp and ability to tell the story in a work to attract the audience, a moderate chapter layout is a more appropriate option, and the production team's approach and a lot of inconsistent or one-off worldview terms and plots make the already weak unified worldview of the "Resident Evil" series even worse, making people confused about where the team wants to take the series and what is the main axis of the plot?
The reason why players remember Raccoon City is not only because this is the origin of Resident Evil, but also because Raccoon City and "Ambrera Chronicles" have moderate chapter derivation and laying out, so that people can have a good understanding of what UBCS is doing under such a Resident Evil, what the second and third generations of protagonists are doing, what Chris is doing, and what the internal disputes or weapon arrangements within the umbrella have any impact. A similar situation can be seen in the Assassin's Creed mythological trilogy, because of the forced end of the work, so Aya's story with Baye, or the connection with historical events, can only be reached, so what happened to Malaka after becoming a caretaker and a family reunion, we have no way of knowing and confused about such a abrupt ending.
The practice of ending a single work often leads to a potential story and character ending in one go, if the story itself is wonderful enough to tell it properly, but we can often see cases of flat explanations or large tension gaps before and after, which can be discussed as evidence for the completion of a single work or the laying out of a long work, rather than just seeing a long work and directly dragging the drama to bury the final decision, but in fact, it may just be less willing to invest in the worldview and multiple works.